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There’s a lot of talent among the Buckeyes’ tight ends this season, with perhaps more depth at the position than the team has seen in some time.
In addition to Max Klare, who joined the Buckeyes out of Purdue as the top tight end in the transfer portal,
there is also Will Kacmarek, who played 296 offensive snaps in 12 games for the Buckeyes in 2024. Redshirt junior Bennett Christian returns after seeing playing time in 15 games during the 2024 season, including starts against Penn State and Indiana.
And then there’s third-year Jelani Thurman, the redshirt sophomore who came to Ohio State with a stellar recruiting profile and undeniable athletic ability that until now, haven’t quite translated to star power.
Out of high school, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Thurman, a highly touted four-star recruit, was rated the No. 4 tight end in the country for his recruiting class in the 247Sports Composite.
As the son of former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman and two-time WNBA champion Kara Braxton, his talent was never in question—it’s in his blood.
The bigger issue for Thurman has been consistency. After redshirting the 2023 season, he spent the offseason working to become more consistent. But while there were flashes of greatness leading up to the 2024 season, we never saw that really come to fruition in game situations.
Last year, he netted only 42 yards on four receptions, with a lone touchdown against Indiana. He has a career total of 60 yards on six receptions. At face value, we should take these numbers with a grain of salt, given how many other offensive targets the Buckeyes have — he’s still averaging 10 yards per reception.
However, it’s telling that, while he did take snaps in the playoffs, the majority of Thurman’s playing time in 2024 came against Ohio State’s weaker opponents, teams like Northwestern, who finished the season 4-6 and got beat by the Buckeyes, 31-7.
Heading into 2025, though, it seems something may have shifted for Thurman. He spent the offseason pushing himself—yes, athletically, but more importantly, according to tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, focusing on the intangibles. In fact, according to Bailey, who called Thurman “night-and-day more mature,” it is his versatility and leadership skills that have improved the most.
Being a tight end already requires players to have some innate versatility, functioning in the dual role of blocker and receiver. But Thurman spent his spring taking it a step further, focusing on expanding his offensive capabilities to prepare to be utilized in different ways, according to Bailey.
The addition of Klare to the roster does mean Thurman will have more competition for playing time, but don’t underestimate the value of his leadership—regardless of whether it’s coming from the field or the sidelines.
Even if he doesn’t see a massive increase in snaps on the field, Thurman’s ability to push his teammates and encourage the rest of his room to be at its best is a net win for the Buckeyes, no matter how his playing time shakes out.
That kind of realization of the greater good often goes unnoticed to those of us at home, but it is the sort of thing that could spell the difference between a mediocre season and another national title. Morale and drive help a team peak at the right moment, and if Thurman is holding his teammates accountable for those things, it bodes well for the Buckeyes’ success.
If those of us at home don’t see it, his coaches and teammates sure do, and the way they sang his praises this past spring could also mean he’s able to find more ways to get himself on the field this season, finally becoming the playmaker people hoped he would be when he got recruited.
